Some existing surgical lighting systems include lightheads having a permanently mounted control handle that requires the use of a sterile cover or sterilizable handle cover adapter in order to maintain a sterile field. The control handle has integrated capacitive sensors that replace conventional replace mechanical control buttons. These capacitive sensors are susceptible to unintended activation during positioning of the lighthead. Furthermore, there is no tactile feedback associated with activation of the capacitive sensors, thereby making them difficult to use.
Alternatives to a permanently mounted control handle include a reusable detachable control handle which can be repeatedly sterilized or a sterile disposable detachable control handle. However, existing prior art detachable control handles do not provide means for activating lighting system controls that provide tactile feedback and are not susceptible to unintended activation during positioning of the lighthead.
The present invention provides a handle assembly for a lighting system that overcomes these and other drawbacks of the prior art.